THE clock is ticking - and there are just HOURS left before you can spend your old £5 notes.

And it appears that there are still millions of paper £5 notes in circulation now, with the deadline looming to spend them.

Plastic five pound notes are now the norm, with the Bank of England telling retailers to stop handing out the paper version in change.

The final cut off is tomorrow (Friday, May 5) when the paper £5 note will cease to be legal tender. Some shops might still take them, but they will be well within their rights to refuse.

“Some retailers, banks and building societies may choose to accept paper £5 notes after the withdrawal date. However this is at the discretion of the individual institution,” the Bank of England said.

But there is a way to still get your money’s worth after that date.

Can you still spend paper £5 notes after May 5, 2017?

Maybe. In theory vending machines won’t take the and shops refuse them - but they don’t have to say no. It’s up to them.

High street banks can also refuse to exchange notes after the cut-off.

The one place that will always let you swap them

There’s one way to guarantee to get your old £5 note swapped – head to the Bank of England itself.

That phrase “I promise to pay the bearer on demand” is something that doesn’t have a time limit on it, the Bank told Mirror Money.

The Bank of England’s head office in London’s note exchange desk lets anyone with an out of date note swap it for a current one – meaning anyone with a fiver can head there and swap their paper fivers for polymer ones.

In fact, even if a note’s ripped, smashed or otherwise vandalised, as long as there’s enough left to identify what it was they will swap it for a new one.

To exchange your banknotes in person you can take them to the following address:

Bank of England

Threadneedle Street

London

EC2R 8AH

The counter is open from Monday to Friday: 9am-4pm, excluding Bank Holidays.